Isn't homework punishment enough?
by penny dreadfully
Summary: Starfires not a cheerleader? Cyborg is failing? Oh wait, BB made a fool of himself, all is right with the world. High School AU. Yeah, its been done, but you know you wanna.


**A/N: **Yeah, I know. One more Teen Titans high school fic. But come on, we all love it. It's a fluff coated guilty pleasure. I wrote this mainly because I was tired of reading stories where Starfire is a cheerleader. Nothing against cheerleaders, nothing against Starfire, but she is ultimately an aggressive personality and that never seems to come out with her jumping around with pom-poms. Regardless this is for enjoyment, so please, continue, enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **Do not Teen Titans.

--

**For Those Uninitiated**

Robin-Richard (Dick) Grayson

Starfire-Kori Anders

Cyborg-Victor Stone

Raven-Rachel Roth

BeastBoy-Garfield Logan

**This is AU. **

--

Ummm. Vice Principal's offices. No matter where you are, they all smell the same-that pale, acidic scent of chalk, steamed broccoli, and detention slips. Nothing can curdle the mystery loaf sitting uneasily in some squirming freshmen's stomach faster than that smell. Even at this school, where the floor was carpeted and the desks were walnut, that smell held the same power. But Garfield Logan was no simpering freshman. This was all old hat to him.

Dr. Loumisos' hand was heavy on Garfield's shoulder as they walked inside. Vice-Principal Wilson's door was closed, some other unfortunate student caught under that hard gaze. In the mean time.. .Garfield smiled at the large African-American youth stapling papers behind the tall desk.

"Yo, Vic! How'd you end up pullin' office duty?"

"Trying to keep my eligibility for wrestling up. Just scoring some brownie points."

"Huh? What! Are you flunking! You took top in the state robotics competition! Your , like, waaay smart!"

"It's Mr. Modine, man. I can't keep my dates straight with him whizzing all over the place lecturing about what should have happened rather than what did happen!"

"No Lie. Mad Mo--"

At the sudden increase of pressure on his shoulder Garfield realized he had been about to bad mouth a member of the faculty..in front of a teacher..in the middle of the principal's office. Stupid. Garfield starred at his Vans as Dr. Loumisos cleared his throat. "Do you know when Principal Wilson will be free?"

Victor glanced behind him at the solid oak door. "I'm not sure Dr. Loumisos. They've been in there ever since I got here. I can't really say."

The Doctor sighed, thinking of his unattended class and the havoc caused by Mr. Logan's "experiment".

"All right Mr. Logan. I leave it to you to explain why the science wing needs new ceiling tiles."

Garfield sweat-dropped as his teacher left the room. Wandering around the waiting area in the office Garfield was about to sit in one of the plush chairs set along the wall when he realized another figure had walked into the room. It was hard to guess the person's gender, baggy pants and an oversized hoodie not giving much away. Not even the face was any help as the hood was pulled far forward, only the glint of dark eyes shinning through the shadows. The figure gave a curt nod in Victor's direction. Vic returned the gesture without any attempt at conversation, but his expression softened while he did.

"Dude! Where did you come from!"

The hood turned in his direction. There was a pause as if the person were deciding whether or not to bother answering. Finally a soft rumble, rusty from disuse, came from under the hood. "Elsewhere"

Garfield shuddered. Dude was Not Friendly. Oh well, that never stopped him before. "So.. whatcha in for?"

The hood once again turned in his direction. Without making any response the figure pulled a small book out of the black messenger bag in its lap and began to read. Even this couldn't deter Garfield. Stepping even closer to the figure he began waving his hand in front of the book. "Hey Dude! I sai--!"

Finally exasperated the figure removed to hood in order to deliver a death glare worthy of the Grimm brothers. (The old school stories where everyone dies) The slow movement revealed short black hair and a frowning mouth. There was a deep scar in the exact middle of her forehead, just a little above her heavily arched brows. Oh yeah and the eyes. The most startling violet eyes Garfield had ever seen, the color of soft flowers. Except the eyes weren't soft, or smiling, or kind. They were boring a hole into his skull.

"Meep!"

Mumbling out an apology Garfield scuttled back towards Victor who was big...and strong.. and…laughing!

"Hey! What are you-"

But before Garfield could finish his thought the office door was thrown open with enough force to rattle the pebbled glass. Expecting a gorilla or at least a San Francisco Linebacker Garfield was surprised to see a slender young girl standing in the door way. "Hello friend Victor! I was not expecting to see you out side of the gym room today. But I am very pleased to see you. Perhaps you could assist me. I need to be procuring the legal forms to be signed by guardians that allow young athletes to play dangerous sports without the school fearing they will be the 'sued'"

All of this was said very quickly and rather loudly, accompanied by hand motions and small jumps as if there was just too much energy within the girl to be contained. Garfield's head was spinning after that recitation but Victor was just smiling at the girl. "No problem Star. All the forms are kept in that office. There should be a slot labeled "Parent's Athletic Permission Form"

"Oh! Thank you very much Friend Victor. You have been most helpful!"

As the girl practically floated into the small storage room Garfield turned to Victor, holding his head. "Whoa. Information overload. (small snort heard from hooded girl) Who was that?"

"That was Kori Anders. She and her family moved here last year. I think they're from somewhere in Eastern Europe. You know, one of those countries that have an uprising every three years so no one bothers drawing boundary lines anymore. Any way she got in here on a soccer scholarship. I mean, jeez, this girl is crazy good. Captain of the Soccer and the Lacrosse Team. I'd love to get her on the football team, but you know how Blood is about co-ed sports."

"She seems a little….hyper"

"Naw man, she's just a really nice person, no strings attached"

Once again, before he could respond, Garfield was interrupted by an opening door, this time on the other side of the room. Mr. Wilson's smooth voice could be heard"-just fill out your portion of the paper work and we will fax it to Mr. Wayne's offices for him to complete."

A young boy stood in the doorway, Tall, but not fully grown, his black hair spiked in complete defiance of gravity. He held himself, not stiffly, but with a solidness that told of training and strength. The boy shook hands with the vice principal and looked him in the eye, not as an authority figure, but as an equal. The boy walked to the form room as Principal Wilson turned his attention to the figure continuing to read. "Miss Roth"

The hood turned towards his voice, rising from the chair. "Ms. Elerbrock just called my office, in tears. Do you care to explain?"

"Not really"

"Oh, but I insist."

"She and I disagreed."

"On what"

"Her interpretation of Macbeth"

"And why has that left a member of my staff in the ladies room?"

The figure said nothing. Wilson seemed to weaken slightly. Motioning the girl into his office it became obvious how small she was. Even within the baggy clothing her shoulder blades became prominent when the weight of her hands in the pockets pulled it taunt. Her hands themselves were almost bony and the same pasty pale her face had proved to be during Garfield's glare. Her bowed head didn't come up to Wilson's shoulder. _And I still wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley_ was all Garfield could think.

"On what aspect of MacBeth did you disagree?'

"I mentioned The Three Witches were mere Prophets, not the cause of MacBeth's downfall. Ms. Elerbrock seemed intent to find an outside influence for MacBeth's transformation rather than accept that he allowed himself to wallow his darker nature. Mankind does not need outside corruption to become evil. The darkness was already inherent in his soul. He just let it out."

"And Ms. Elerbrock?"

"Remained adamant that he was corrupted by mystical forces"

How did this lead to-?"

"I presented several instances where-"

Roth began to pull out a dog-eared copy of Shakespeare with black tape sticking out in various places when Wilson waved his hand. "That will not be necessary. I am not questioning your knowledge of the material. It is your sullen disregard of authority that needs to be addressed. You are an intelligent young woman Miss Roth. But this passive aggressive behavior must stop."

Wilson paused for a moment, as if to give Roth a moment to prepare herself. "If any more incidents like this occur it will become necessary for me to inform your Father."

--Meanwhile--

The spiky haired kid walked into the outer office nodding to the short, stringy looking kid curled into an impossible position in one of the chairs. The kid's messy brown hair seemed to be streaked with green and his equally emerald eyes were locked on the black figure retreating into the office with something akin to fear. As the kid swung himself into an upright position Richard turned his attention to the boy still busy stapling.

"Stone"

"Grayson"

The two nodded to one another, a smile (almost) softening both faces. Victor thought the guy didn't look like much, but he had seen him put down two of the school bullies all on his own. And the kid had looked cool doing it, walking away after delivering what Victor consider a gratuitous warning. Rancid had all but wet his pants when he realized the spiky haired dude in front of him had delivered a flawless roundhouse kick..too his head!(Considering it was a foot and a half above the guy's I'd be freaked out too.)

Victor had arrived in time to catch the end of the show. "Nice moves"

The kid had looked him over but he smiled without reservation. "Thanks." -Sticking out his hand-"Richard Grayson"

"I'm Victor Stone. Hey man, any time you wanna sparring partner I got a whole wrestling team that needs whipped into shape."

"I'm not much for teams."

Victor had shrugged. "Offer stays open."

Grayson hadn't come that night but he had been by the weight room a few times, throwing Victor's best teammates around the sparring mat like they were rag dolls. Stone and Grayson weren't what anyone would call friends, but they were on speaking terms, and there was an obvious mutual respect between them.

--

Richard headed towards the filing office to get the forms he needed. Victor was still thinking about the first time they had met so he didn't really have time to warn Richard. The room where all the forms were stored was rather small. It wasn't really meant for more than one occupant. "Hey Grayson! There's already someo-"

Richard found himself pressed against something soft and smelling of oranges. To be more specific his lips were pressed against something soft and smelling of oranges-another set of lips- lips that were attached to a pretty, heart shaped face and a cloud of red hair and a pair of gorgeous green eyes. Eyes that were starring into his with quite a lot of shock. As Kori had been exiting she had run straight into this stranger who was blushing as furiously as herself. Quickly pushing away Kori began with a squeak "Oh! I am so terribly sorry! Have you been harmed at all? I was merely attempting to remove myself from the room of forms and had no thought of another person trying to occupy the same-"

"Umm. Hey. Don't worry. I'm fine"

Both teens took a deep breath and a step back from each other. Richard stuck his hand out. "Hi. I'm Richard Grayson"

Kori Anders ignored the offered hand and enveloped the boy in a powerful hug . "Oh friend Richard. I am very pleased to make the acquaintance of the boy I have run into. My name is Kori Anders and I have just recently become a member of your school of high but many of my teammates call me the Star of Fire and it would please me very much if you would call me that also and then we could be good friends!"

"Umm. Sure. Star, was it? "

Grayson seemed a bit dazed, both from the words pouring out of the girl's mouth and her shimmering eyes, which hadn't left his yet. Extricating himself from the girl Grayson grabbed the forms he needed and headed to one of the tables in the office, a babbling Starfire behind him.

Vic and Garfield had watched the whole scene with shocked expressions.

"Dude! How can he keep up with what she's saying.?"

"Ehh, Grayson's a smart kid. Somebody's gotta understand that girl or she's doomed."

Garfield's attention span could only stretch so far so he was soon trying out various excuses and expressions on Victor. "Hey Vic. How about. 'Well, I was only trying to extrapolate the energy output of the potato by compressing the energy manifold- you know with t_he face_?" Garfield was suddenly looking at Vic with the most painfully adorable face Victor had ever seen outside of a Disney movie. "Man I'm not certain that's the best approach"

"Not unless you were hoping for idiot induced convulsions"

Garfield 'meeped!' once again at the dark girl standing behind him, waiting stonily for him to leave enough space in the hallway for her to move around him. Gar seemed at a loss for words at the sudden attack on his ultimate weapon (the face). Victor chuckled to himself, but Gar felt that this was an opportunity for conversation. "So you made a teacher cry? Dude! That's awesome. What did you do? Threaten them?"

Rachel looked at him. At least the hood of her sweatshirt was facing in his direction. Without making a sound the girl walked to the copiers, her book open to one of the marked pages. Gar couldn't continue to pester her however, as Mr. Wilson stood in the door way, his face half in shadow, giving him the impassive glare Gar had become used to. "Mr. Logan, just what exactly have you demolished today?"

Before Gar could reply a distant boom could be heard echoing through the hallways. Wilson turned towards the noise but one of the trophies lining the walls fell onto his head, effectively knocking him unconscious.

Richard watched the others in the room react to the sudden explosion. The girl beside him stood in a solid fighting stance but her eyes were searching for an explanation, not a fight. Victor Stone had curled his hands into rather intimidating fists but his expression remained neutral, willing to listen to whatever excuse for the ruckus was given. The dark figure that had entered the office after him had tensed instantly, assuming the defensive position of someone used to fighting, or someone used to getting hit. The kid with green hair had half-screamed but was now looking around wildly for the cause of…whatever had happened

The fire alarm was loud. Very loud. Roth hunched even further into her sweatshirt and Garfield covered his ears, obviously affected by the noise. Even as crowds of students walked past the office doors none of the five inside made a move to join them. Perhaps Kori wasn't familiar with a fire drill, or Rachel just didn't like crowds, but either way all five looked to Robin when he began to act.

"Victor! Is there security camera access in here?"

Victor nodded, leading the way to a back room with several active feed screens running. 3 screens showed students streaming out of the building. One showed a small group walking in. "Those are not students from here."

Victor nodded with Kori. "She's right. Sid Recket goes to Jefferson on 67th street. Or at least he's enrolled there. I don't think he goes to class"

"So what are they doing here? We have books and overhead projectors. There's not exactly a huge black market draw for chalk you know." Garfield was the only one to laugh at his own joke.

"Where was the explosion?" Victor began typing furiously. "The history wing. But I'm not certain it a fire. All the thermostats are still registering under 80 degrees, but the sprinkler systems were activated any way."

"They must be after the artifacts the museum loaned Mr. Wapak. He is explaining the business of ancient battle. Most invigorating."

Everyone was a little frightened by Kori's interest, but at least they had an idea where the intruders were going. "They aren't walking out of here with anything"

--

If the assembled teens were frightened of Kori's enthusiasm for ancient battle they were even more taken aback by Richard's quiet fury. "Whoa dude. Aren't you taking this kinda personal?"

"No" If looks could kill.

"Yeah, man, we could just call the police."

"The thieves will be gone before they get here."

Hard to argue with that. How far up on the priority list are the Jump city police gonna put a prank call from 5 kids? The fire alarm was going off, authority figures wouldn't be in the mood for a wild story. Victor processed it all. "Fine, man. Your right. What do you wanna do about it?'

Richard smiled. "Listen up"

Roth straightened from beside Mr. Wilson. He was out cold but he would be fine. The other four scurried out the door staying low (or in Garfield's case inching along on his stomach.) Headed in the direction of the history wing. Rachel stayed put in the doorway behind them. Victor turned to watch her. "You coming?"

Raven hid her surprise. She had hardly expected to be included in this little commando expedition, but if she was... "You're going the wrong way."

They could either follow her or not, she didn't seem to care. Never once did she look behind her as she headed in the opposite direction. Eventually the others shrugged and followed, Richard tugged along by Kori. Raven led them through hallways, many of which the others had never been to, always silent, her boots making no sound. She seemed to slip through walls, walking through passages only she knew were there. They were in the projector room above the theater when Roth stopped. She didn't say anything, just waited for Richard. "Victor, I need you to hit the lights..."

The police had just scratched their heads. There shouldn't have been a break in. But there was and the thieves had been caught and disarmed before they even arrived on the scene. The fact that they found the criminals tied up and covered with eraser dust was just weird.

Richard had been chosen to talk to the police. They had come up with a cover story: lost in the confusion the five teens stumbled upon the tied up, would be, thieves. Beating them with erasers was Garfield's personal touch.

--

"WooHoooo! Aww Man that was righteous!"

Gar high-fived Victor and began a very complex victory dance. Starfire laughed at his antics while Richard and Stone shook hands, giant-we-caught-the-bad-guy-grins plastered on their faces. Rachel watched it all off to the side.

"Dude. We should totally go get pizza to celebrate!"

While the initial reaction seemed favorable realty began to set in. "Ohh. I am afraid I must be getting home soon. My Kanorphka will be most upset when he hears news of today's activities."

Everyone one else chimed in similar excuses. Richard decided to take action.

"Look, I think we did something really good here. I'd like to at least talk about it again. How about tomorrow, once everybody's done with after school stuff?"

A/N: So. What you think? Just some thought son how the team would meet up in a real world setting. If you have thoughts for me, there is a convenient button. Right there. To your left. A little more. Perfect. Thanks for reading!


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